The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector for electrically connecting a pair of mating connectors in perpendicular mating directions.
Pertinent conventional connectors are disclosed in Taiwan Patent Application Nos. 85208558, 85212192 and 86214395. Such conventional connectors have more than one mating port arranged in substantially parallel directions for electrically connecting with corresponding mating connectors. Moreover, the mating connectors may be of different types. Thus, the conventional connectors can fulfil a broad range of application requirements. However, if a specific application requires the positioning of one or more of the mating ports in a front panel of a computer enclosure rather than in a rear panel thereof, the conventional connector having the ports aligned in a single parallel direction can not be used to achieve such an aim. The conventional connector has no additional port for directly electrically connecting with another electrical connector assembled to the front panel within the computer enclosure after the conventional connector is fixed to the rear panel thereof.
Therefore, there is a requirement for a new electrical connector which can achieve a direct inner electrical connection within a computer enclosure.